Automatic bottle stopper



Jan. 15, 1952 DREYFUS AUTOMATIC BOTTLE STOPPER Filed Aug. 16, 1950 Patented Jan. 15, 1952 AUTOMATIC BOTTLE STOPPER Roger Dreyfus, Paris, France Application August 16, 1950, Serial No. 179,731 In France July 5, 1950 4 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to automatic bot tle stoppers and more particularly to stoppers of the kind comprising a core formed of an upper cylindrical cap containing a spring bearing with one end against the top wall of this cap and adapted with the other end to push downwardly a lower cap adapted to bear on the edge of the bottleneck, a sealing washer being interposed between the lower cap and said edge, the wiper cap being fixed to the bottle by means of a pair of substantially semi-cylindrical side wings pivotally mounted on the top of the upper cap at two diametrically opposite points, these side wings being formed with lugs or clamps turned to the inside and adapted to engage the underside of the circular bead formed around the upper edge of the bottle. Although it is widely appreciated, this closing means is not adaptable to any typfis of bottles. Furthermore, the aforesaid side wings may pivot freely about their hinged connection. As a rule, the untimely unstopping of the bottle is prevented by threading ring members over the side wings when these are applied against the upper cylindrical cap, whereby the side wings are prevented from moving away from each other.

The object of this invention is to provide an automatic bottle stopper of the type defined above wherein the lugs or clamps carried by the side wings are held in positive engagement with the underside of the bottleneck bead without using any other auxiliary members for preventing these side wings from moving away from each other.

This object is achieved by the provision of a stopper having its upper cap formed with a pair of diametrically opposite longitudinal guiding means in the cylindrical surface of the upper cap and closely adjacent to the top wall thereof, the pivot means on which the side wings are pivot-. ally connected to each other being slidably movable in these guiding means, whereby when the pivot means are positioned at the upper end of the guiding means, the wings may freely move away from each other, when the pivot means are positioned at the lower end of the guiding means the upper edges of the wings engage the outer cylindrical surface of the upper cap below the top wall thereof and are therefore secured against motion in their positions.

Some embodiments of the invention are illustrated diagrammatically by way of example in the accompanying drawing.

Fig. l is an axial section of the stopper showing the side wings thereof in their positions away from the upper cap, the stopper being ready for application on a bottleneck.

Fig. 2 is a similar axial section of the stopper in its bottle-closing condition.

Fig. 3 is a sectional illustration of a modified embodiment of the stopper according to the invention.

Referring now to the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the stopper comprises a cylindrical upper cap I containing a spring 2 bearing with one end against the top wall 3 of cap I and with the other end against the dished, frusto-conical or fiat bottom 4 of a lower cap member having a cylindrical wall portion 5 in guiding engagement with cap I. The lower cap 4, 5 is held inside the upper cap I through the lower edge of the upper cap which is turned inside against the bottom 4 of the lower cap. A sealing washer I of rubber or other suitable material is fixed to the bottom 4 of the lower cap by means of a button 6 extending downward from this bottom 4.

The upper cap I is provided with a pair of diametrically opposite longitudinal guiding means 8 extending along generatrices of the cylindrical surface of the cap and adjacent to the top wall 3 of the cap. These guiding means may consist for instance of simple slots 8 formed in cap I; they may also consist of depressed channels not shown formed in place of said slots in the outer surface of the cap. A pair of diametrically opposite studs or rivets 9 are adapted to engage slots 8 for sliding motion therein and on each stud are pivotally mounted the adjacent upper ends of a pair of substantially cylindrical wing members I 0, II. The inner surface of these wing members are formed with lugs or clamps I2 adapted to engage the underside of the bead usually provided at the upper portion of bottlenecks. Wing members are also formed with lugs I3 extending to the outside and serving as gripping means for operating the wing members. When studs 9 are positioned at the upper end of guiding slots 8 as shown in Fig. 1 wing members I 0, II may pivot freely about these studs. If however the sealing washer I is applied against the upper edge of a bottleneck and the side wing members Ill, II are subsequently lowered against cap I whilst engaging the lugs or clamps I2 under the circular bead provided at the upper end of the bottleneck, the downward pressure exerted upon lugs I3 for this purpose will cause the wing members to move downward in relation to cap I. whereby studs 9 will follow this movement and also take a lower position in their corresponding guiding slots 8. Thus, the upper edges I4 of the wing members will be applied on the outer cylindrical surface of cap I at a distance below the top wall 8 of this cap sufficient to lock both wing members against pivotal motion about their connecting studs 9, whilst the edge I4 will abut against the cylindrical wall of cap I. It will be noted that the pressure which may be exerted by the liquid in the bottle against the bottom 4 of the lower cap will tend to reinforce the action exerted by wing members IE, II and move the upper ends of the guiding slots 8 away from studs 9.

The modified embodiment illustrated in Fig. 3 differs from that shown in Figs. 1, 2 in that the upper edge I4 of wing members I8, II is slightly turned to the inside. As a result, when wing members I0, H are slidably moved from their uppermost position on cap I, in which the upper turned-in edge I4 is placed above the top wall 3 of the cap for being brought down to a position in which this edge I4 will press the cylindrical surface of the cap, this edge I4 acts as a cam by engagingthe cylindrical outer surface of cap I and forces toward each other wing members II II which pivot about studs 9. This pivotal movement will cause wing member I0, I I and lugs I2 to be pressed with a greater force against the bottleneck.

The same result would be obtained, of course, by embossing internally the upper edges of wing members I0, II,

The stopper according to the invention may be made of metal, plastics or any other suitable material. I wish it .to be understood that I do not desire to'be limited to the details shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new is:

1. An automatic bottle stopper comprising a core formed of a cylindrical upper cap and a lower cap coaxial with and slidingly mounted within said upper cap, spring means urging said caps away from each other, two longitudinal side wing members, substantially semi-circular in cross section, carrying internal lugs adapted to engage the under side of the circular bead of the bottle neck, transverse pivot means for pivoting together relatively near their upper end said wing members, which are disposed around said core and adapted to be brought towards the latter and away from it, and two longitudinal guiding means on the upper cap for said transverse pivot means, the upper end of said guiding means extending close to the top wall of said uppercap, the distance between said transverse pivot means and the upper edges of the wing members being greater than the distance between the upper end of said guiding means and the top wall of said upper cap, whereby when said pivot means are positioned at the upper end of said longitudinal guiding means, said wing members may freely move away from each other, whilst when said pivot means are positioned at the lower end thereof, the upper edges of said wing members engage the outer cylindrical surface of the upper cap and are secured against motion in their positions.

2. An automatic bottle stopper according to claim 1, in which said transverse pivot means consist of two radial studs slidingly mounted in said two guiding means respectively.

3. An automatic bottle stopper according to claim 1, in which said longitudinal guiding means consist of slots formed in the upper cap.

4. An automatic bottle stopper according to claim 1, in which the upper edges of said side. wing members are turned to the inside so as to act as cams for clamping the wing members on the bottle.

ROGER DREYFUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 12,974 Hubert June 15, 1909 2,199,732 Antonson May 7, 1940 

